The Greek word arete is usually translated as ‘virtue’, but can also be rendered as ‘excellence’: it is a subject which continually arises in Platonic dialogues and texts. What is arete, and why does is play such a prominent role in Platonic philosophy? Is it an essence, a power or an activity? Is there one thing or a plurality; and if many, what is the common feature that allows them to called by one name? We will use this session to explore arete and the soul’s relation to it as it passed from the most outward to the most inward states of activity and consciousness.
We will be joined by Professor Michael Griffin, who works on arete in neo-platonism.
Admission is free, but we do encourage those who are able to donate £5 in order to cover our costs, either as cash on the day or donating through this website. To download the extracts we will be reading from please click here: The Platonic Tradition on Virtue.
Most of these evenings are self-contained and every effort is made to make them accessible to the newcomer, while allowing the great profundity of the Platonic tradition to step forward and speak to us at whatever level our present understanding sits. Some of these sessions are coupled together, in order to give us the space to examine more fully particular texts and themes, but even here we will ensure that if those attending have missed the first of the two sessions a recap of what has gone before will help all participants to pick up the main threads of the theme.
We will add a paper here for you to download.
The Trust has run similar activities for some 18 years, and in our experience they allow the most profound questions concerning human life, the nature of reality, and our interactions, to be explored at once both seriously and with good cheer. Our aim is to provide a forum for honest and straight-forward enquiry, but which is unafraid to explore inward-moving paths too often neglected by modern schools of thought.
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